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Natural Law

Natural law may be described as law whose content is set by nature and is thus universal. It is an idea that exists in most religious traditions; Hinduism, for instance, has the notion of dharma, an enduring moral order underlying all reality. In the West, a similar notion is known as natural law. The first developments related to such law can be found in the work of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (4 BCE), the Stoics (3 BCE to 3 CE), and Cicero (106–43 BCE). However, the works of Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), a Christian philosopher and member of the scholastic tradition, were some of the greatest contributions to the development of a natural law doctrine. During the 17th century, a vivid debate emerged about natural law and the foundations of society. Since the last decades of the 20th century, there is a process for the “revival of Thomism.” Theologians and Christian philosophers appeal to the natural law doctrine as a basis for intervention in the public spheres.

Thomas Aquinas

Aquinas wrote many theological and philosophical treaties; the most influential of them was Summa Theologiae. There, he deepened the work of Aristotle and Augustine of Hippo and developed a new approach to the understanding of natural law. Aquinas established that God exists and is the beginning and end of all things. All creatures come from God and depend on him. Moreover, God is the creator and the entity that settles the order of things in the world, and everything that exists, exists because of and for God. The natural order is a hierarchically created order. God is the foundation of natural law, and mankind receives it. In this process, humans participate in the eternal law that God has established for the universe.

Aquinas established that natural law prescribes actions according to virtues. The notion of natural law refers to a series of precepts enacted by human reason. There are some basic principles, intellectually known, that help reason to differentiate if the ends pursued are according to virtue. Mostly, all people are capable of knowing these principles, which are principles of practical reason. The first principle, known and understood by everyone, is that good must be done and evil avoided. The second principle, not known by everyone, establishes an order among human inclinations. Finally, there are principles known only by wise people. One of them is the prohibition of usury. Natural law, as a moral law, is the core of evident universal principles that help people direct their actions.

This common core includes rules, values, rights, and duties such as the conservation of human life, the union of women and men, the education of offspring, avoiding ignorance, not harming others, reasonable behavior, and living in society. These are all goods that must be pursued.

Natural law, as the first and essential set of norms that rule moral life, refers to the own original nature of mankind: a person in unity of soul and body. The human person is a unified totality, it is a soul expressed in a body that is informed by the spirit.

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